Cherry Blossom Tree Sensory Bin

Spring is around the corner and that means this Build a Cherry Blossom Sensory Bin is perfect for little ones to explore textures and signs of spring through sensory play!

We even added a little math into the cherry blossom building fun, too.  This cherry blossom sensory bin is a Spring version of our Build an Apple Tree fall sensory bin.

Spring Sensory Bin: Build a Cherry Blossom Tree

This sensory bin requires only a few items:

Sticks broken into 6-12 inch pieces

Green felt cut into leaves

Pink tissue paper

Allow your child to pull pieces of the tissue paper and crumble them into little balls.  Tearing and crumbling tissue paper is such a great fine motor activity.  The act of tearing and crumbling works the intrinsic muscles of the hand, which are important for strength in activities like coloring and handwriting.

Math Cherry Blossom Sensory Bin

Sensory play is such a great environment for learning. When the sensory bin is ready, show your child how to build branches of a cherry tree.  They can arrange sticks to resemble branches and add leaves and blossoms.  When we played with our sensory bin, I encouraged my kids to create patterns using the leaves and the blossoms.

This simple activity was a great way to sneak in basic math pattern ideas.  Ask your child questions like, “What textures do you feel?” and  “Describe the sticks and the leaves” as they play to encourage descriptive language during sensory play.

 

Colleen writes at Sugar Aunts, a blog by three sisters who share all things creative in motherhood.  They love playful learning, creative kid’s crafts, sensory and fine motor activities, kid’s party themes, DIY, and so much more.  Between the three Aunts, there are 8 cousins who are around each other so often, they are more like siblings than cousins! You can see the action at www.sugaraunts.com.  Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Instagram.